Wednesday, July 29, 2009

My View on Health Care Reform

By now, we've all heard about the Health Care Reform possibility. Some people are skeptical and others are for it. It's a hard call to make. Whether reform happens or not there will be a price to pay in lives and in dollars.

My family is just one of many families who are making a juggling act. Hubby and I have chronic health issues. So do both of our daughters. We have health insurance through Hubby's employer. Our daughters are covered until they age out as long as they stay in school. For this, we are grateful and scared.

One of my daughters has epilepsy. I don't know if heath care reform will help her. I pray it will. The pharmacy automatically changed her medication from the brand to the generic version when it became available. By the end of the month she had seizures and there was a very noticeable decline in her functioning. Her work and her job performance both suffered. She failed three other medications before finding the brand that worked.

At refill time she requested the brand name. Then, the nightmare began that I can only hope some part of health care reform will address.

Under the terms of our insurance our daughter can get the brand name medication. According to the insurance rep "all" she has to do is pay the difference between the generic cost and the brand name cost and the co-pay. It totals $160 per month. With her other medication she'll pay about $200 per month for prescriptions. This is on top of the $35 co-payments to see a doctor for care.

She doesn't qualify for state programs. We were also told that she doesn't qualify for patient assistance programs because she has insurance. Our insurance company will not budge on the payment amount.

Our family is like most. A recent big trip was only possibly because of huge fundraising efforts on the part of our church. We are not well off. We are just barely getting by.

Will healthcare reform help with a situation like this? If it doesn't, will people like my daughter stand a chance. With the medication she can live her life and contribute to society. She wants to teach music and feed the hungry. Without the medication she can't function.

Millions of other Americans are in the same or similar boats. We are all hoping for the relief that only a broad based healthcare reform package can bring.

For the people who are in the same position as my daughter, health care reform cannot come too soon.

Add me to your circle

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